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I UNITED STATES OF AIVIERECA. ^^ 



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ESSAYS 



ON THE 



CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT, 



IN THE 



UiNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ADDRESSED TO THE 



PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES GENERALLY, 



AND TO THE 



PLANTERS AND FARMERS 



OF THE 



It SOUTHERN & WESTERN STATES PARTICULARLY. 

-, ■ BY JUNIUS SMITH, I. L. D. 



NEW YORK: 

W. E. DEAN, PRINTER, 2 ANN STREET. 



1848. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 

BY JUNIUS SMITH, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Sonthem 
District of the State of New- York. • 



n^'^ 
c-?? 

-5^ 



To THE Planters and Farmers of the Southern and 

Western States. 



Gentlemen : — 

Sanguine in the belief that the cultivation of the Tea 
Plant in the United States will open a brilliant career to 
practical husbandry, I gave my leisure hours during the 
past Autumn to the preparation of several lectures on 
the subject, which it was my design to deliver to the pop- 
ulation of your section of the country. Those lectures 
were completed in December, when 1 received an invi- 
tation from India to return to London, on matters of busi- 
ness, which would scarcely admit of refusal. This un- 
expected circumstance compelled me to abandon the idea 
of a personal visit to the south, at the present time, to su- 
perintend the plantation of the Tea nurseries, as well as 
my plan of delivering lectures for the instruction of the 
people in this new branch of agriculture. No other way 
seemed open for me to pursue, but to condense the lec- 
tures 1 had written into the form of Essays, and to con- 
vey the ideas I wished to communicate, through the me- 
dium of the press. ♦ 

Although I deeply regret this interruption of my plans, 
yet the disappointment is, in some degree, mitigated by 
the confidence reposed in the ability of the person selec- 
ted to discharge the duties of forming and planting the 
nurseries. Exempt from the bondage of intellectual ser- 
vitude, to which the people of China, from the earliest 
ages of their national existence, have been subject, the 



American husbandman comes fresh and unshackled by 
antiquated oriental notions, to the free choice and adop- 
tion of such improvements in the culture and preparation 
of Tea as his own unrestrained, unbiased, and cultivated 
intellect may prescribe. The addition of so great and 
productive a branch of industry to the rich staples which 
already pour their treasures from the pregnant earth, and 
choke our markets with abundance, opens a prospective 
vista to the southern cultivator, which cannot fail to arrest 
his attention, and cheer him on to the attainment of mag- 
nificent and gratifying results. How delightful to antici- 
pate the period when copious supplies of a pure whole- 
some beverage, the product of our own soil, shall crown 
the labour of industry, and when the current of wealth, 
rolling its accumulating tide over our peaceful land, shall 
carry joy and thanksgiving to the cottage of the villager 
and the mansion of the citizen. 

Your Obed'nt. Servant, 

JUNIUS SMITH. 

P. S. Letters addressed to me, to the care of Messrs. 
Cook & Smith, 110 Wall-street. New York, will be dulv 
forwarded. 



ON THE 

CULTIVATION OF THE TEA PLANT 

IN THE UNITED STATES. 



ESSAY I. 

Introduction — Description of the Tea Plant— Black and Green Tea from 
the same Plant — Resemblance to the Grape Vine — Torrid Zone suppo- 
sed indispensable to the culture of the Tea Plant — Hon. Hefiry Clay's 
mistake — Climate, Latitude, Temperature, Soil, Location and Produc- 
tions of the eighteen Chinese Tea Growing Provinces considered — 
Districts more partic'i^'rly appropriated to the cultivation of Tea — Tea 
cultivated throughout China — Character of the soil adapted to the cul- 
ture of Tea — Effects of Manure upon Plants — Tea Plant indigenous to 
the Temperate Zone — United States produces all the Plants which grow 
in the Temperate Zone, therefore will produce the Tea Plant. 

INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION OF THE TEA PLANT. 

The investigation of any subject which has a practical 
bearing upon the agricultural interests of our country, 
merits the attention, in a particular manner, of those en- 
gaged in the pursuits of husbandry. No subject relating 
to agriculture, with which I am acquainted, can be brought 
before the public mind, more novel in itself, or more inti- 
mately associated with our daily enjoyments and per- 
manent welfare, than the cultivation of the Tea Plant. 
Great efforts have been made, and large sums of money 
expended, in exploring unknown, distant, trackless wilds, 
without the slightest attempt to explore the capabilities of 
lands lying at our door, and offering to the hand of indus- 
try, greater reward than distant possessions can promise. 
It is by no means certain that the extentjon of territory 



will be more beneficial to our country than the extention 
of cultivation over lands already in possession. The 
former invites our surplus population, abroad ; the latter 
gives them full employment at home. 

Hitherto, no friendly fostering hand has been raised in 
behalf of the Tea Plant, but content in the enjoyment of 
the purchased fruit, we have repelled the cultivation from 
our shores, until we have come to a conclusion that it can- 
not be cultivated at all. 

Whilst we invite public attention to the enquiry, and 
the co-operation of Southern and Western Planters and 
Farmers in correcting our errors and more fully develop- 
ing the subject, we beg to apprize the surface readers of 
our day, that it is not one calculated to amuse the imagi- 
nation, but rather to instruct the understanding and en- 
large the sphere of practical husbandry. 

The Tea Plant is a hardy evergreen. It grows ordi- 
narily from four to six feet in height and spreads in nu- 
merous branches from the bottom, forming a thick bushy 
top like a currant bush, but resembling, more closely per- 
haps, the myrtle. The shrub is covered in its season with 
a great number of white flowers with yellow stamens» 
like a wild rose, and is slightly odoriferous. When the 
flowers fall off" a round pod remains, in which, when ripe, 
there is a round black seed about the size of a buckshot. 
The leaves are of bright green, seriated, and run to a sharp 
point like the leaf of a peach tree.* It is not our inten- 
tion to discuss the often mooted question, whether there 
are two distinct species of Tea Plants, Green and Black, 
or whether there be but one species producing both Black 
and Green Tea. Learned naturalists, after exhausting their 
strength, have left the matter where they found it. 

* See McCartny's Embassy by Sir Greo, Staunton. Foreign Missionary 
Magazine, New York, Aug., 1847. McCulloch'a Commercial Dictionary. 



Botanically considered the Tea Plant is undoubtedly 
but one species, and yet produces both green and black 
Tea, just as a grape vine produces white and black fruit, 
but is still a grape vine ; or an apple tree produces red 
and green fruit, but is still an apple tree. Soil, climate, 
cultivation, manure, mode of curing, time of collecting 
the bud and the leaf, produce a decided difference in the 
leaf of the same plant and in the quality of the Tea. 

In many respects the Tea Plant resembles the grape 
vine more than any other plant. In France and Europe 
generally, it is w^ell known that the grape vine of the same 
species produces very different qualities of wine, even 
from vineyards lying contiguous. The difference from 
the above-mentioned circumstances, is not easily account- 
ed for with precision. It is precisely the same with the 
Tea Plant. The exact quality and characteristic flavour 
cannot be known until the leaf is gathered, converted into 
Tea, and the quality tested, and yet it is the same plant. 
Hence the almost numberless names given to Chinese 
Teas to designate their particular growth and quality. 
The best wines are produced in particular latitudes, par- 
ticular soils, and particular locations. It is precisely the 
same with regard to Tea Plants grown from the same 
collection of seed, in contiguous gardens, set in different 
sections of the same district, producing various qualities 
of Tea. We find the best and choicest flavoui*ed Tea pro- 
duced in China, where we should least expect it, in the 
vicinity of Peking, N. Latitude 40°, in a line parallel with 
Philadelphia. The analogy, however, between the grape 
vine and the Tea Plant is not sustained in one important 
particular. A grape vine which produces white, does not 
produce black grapes ; nor does a vine which produces 
black produce white grapes. However various the quali- 
ty of the wine the same grape may produce, it retains its 
distinctive colour. The Tea Plant produces different 



qualities of Tea and so far resemble the grape vine, but 
it seems well substantiated that the same plant produce^ 
both black and green Tea, and so far difiers from the grape 
vine. Great attention and sound discretion therefore 
must be exercised in the selection of the most advantage- 
ous location for a Tea Garden or Plantation, which will 
more fully appear in the sequel. 

We are quite aware that a general opinion prevails in 
this country that an equatorial climate is indispensable to 
the successful cultivation of the Tea Plant. Nothing, we 
apprehend, can be more erroneous, more at variance with 
experience, nor more entirely fabulous than such an 
opinion. 

Even the celebrated statesman of Kentucky, in his me- 
morable address, delivered in Lexington, 13th N.ov., 1847, 
affirms " that our country comprehends the greatest vari- 
ety of rich soils capable of almost all the productions of 
the earth, excepting Tea, Coffee and the Spices." He 
evidently had not considered the subject, so far as regards 
the growth of Tea, with his usual sagacity : but gather- 
ing into one luminous view the amplitude and capacity of 
the Federal Union, for agricultural purposes, gave a bold 
off hand expression to his vigorous intellect and compre- 
hensive mind without pausing to consider the details which 
might have given a different direction to his conclusion. 
Nevertheless, we have grouped his own romantic state 
among the Tea growing districts of our country, and an- 
ticipate the time when the celestial evergreen will wave 
over his plantations, and its fragrant leaf gladden his fes- 
tivities and cheer his heart. 

In considering the climate, latitude, temperature, and 
soil best adapted to the growth of the Tea Plant, our at- 
tention is naturally directed to the Tea growing districts 
of China. Our object will be sufficiently gained if we 
confine our enquiry to the eighteen provinces into which 



China proper is divided, all, to a greater or less extent. 
Tea growing districts. This examination, especially when 
we come to consider the parallels of latitude in om- own 
country, will probably show most satisfactorily and con- 
clusively the error of popular opinion. 

China proper, exclusive of its dependencies upon the 
Northwest and South, comprehends a space situated be- 
tween 20° and 41° N. Lat., and from 101° to 122° East 
Longitude. 

Chihu is the most northern of the eighteen provinces. 
The capitol, Peking, is in Lat. 40°, about 120 miles from 
Tungku, on the coast of Pachele Gulf, and is situated in 
the northern part of this province. 

The climate of this province is colder than it is in the 
United States in the same parallel of Latitude. In Peking, 
the thermometer stands during the night in winter months 
18 to 20° of Fahrenheit, and during the day is below 
freezing point. It is seldom so cold in this country south 
of 40° F. The summers are warmer than the same parallel 
in the United States. The temperature generally from 
75 to 90 F., sometimes 95 to 105°. But notwithstand- 
ing the rigor of winter, the Tea Plant cultivated in the 
district contiguous to Peking, produces the finest, most 
fragrant, and most expensive tea in China. It is from 
this province that the Peking Tea Company collects the 
richest and greatest variety of Tea for exportation to 
Russia and other countries. It is from these gardens that 
the Emperor's household and the great officers of the 
court are supplied. Beyond the boundaries of China 
proper on the north, the Tea Plant is cultivated as high as 
45° N. Lat., of an inferior quality it is true, as the high 
latitudes will not admit, from the length of winter and 
shortness of summer, of so early and so vigorous a 
growth, and of course of so delicate a leaf, as more tem- 
perate latitudes. It is manifest therefore that the growth 



6 

of the plant does not depend upon the temperature of the 
climate. 

The soil of the eastern part of this province, extending 
to the sea coast, is sandy, poor, just sustaining a miserably 
destitute population. The middle and northern part is a 
level plain with richer and more productive soils. The 
western broken, and hilly, and adapted to agricultural pur- 
poses. Productions : Tea, Mullet, Wheat pulse, and va- 
rieties of Fruit, and some Rice. In Lat. parallel with 
Madrid, Philadelphia and Delaware. 

2. Proceeding south, we come to the adjoining pro- 
vince of Shantung, a maratime province stretching along 
the coast of the Yellovp' Sea. 

The face of the country is diversified. The eastern 
part, hilly and mountainous ; the western, level and undu- 
lating. 

The temperature of this province^ is cold in winter and 
hot in summer. Snow falls and sharp frosts ensue during 
the winter months, and even the Yellow River, the south- 
ern boundary of this province, is often obstructed with 
ice. Ice houses are far more common than in this coun- 
try, though the ice is generally used to preserve fish rather 
than as a summer luxury for the table. 

The productions of this province are Tea, Rice, Mil- 
let, Maize, Fruits, &c. Lat. about 34 to 37° N. Lying 
parallel with Gibraltar, and northern parts of North and 
South Carolina. 

3. Shansi is a northern frontier province west of 
Chihli, and about the same latitude. 

Its surface is mountainous, hilly, rugged, its winter 
cold, and temperature freezing. Productions : Grain, 
Millet, Wheal, Vegetables, Fruit ; we have no reliable 
accounts respecting the production of Tea, excepting the 
general one that it grows in all the provinces. Lat. 35 
to 40°. Parallel with Virginia. 



4. The province of Honan, south of the Yellow River, 
is situated near the centre of the provinces. The face of 
the country is generally a rich plain ; but the south-v^^est- 
ern part of the province is intersected w^ith hills and cor- 
responding valleys. 

The temperature, cold in w^inter, both frost and ice. 
Productions : Tea, Silk, Cotton, Hemp, Flax, &c. 
Lat. 32 to 35. Parallel : North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. 

5. We now come, as we proceed southerly, to the ma- 
ratime and central provinces of China, forming the finest 
and most productive agricultural districts of the Empire, 
and producing the greatest abundance of Tea. From 
these provinces the bulk of the Tea exported, which by 
the way is but a very small proportion of the quantity 
grown, is principally derived, and from the latitude we 
can easily perceive the corresponding districts of our 
own country. 



Kiang-nan, 
Che Kiang, 
Kiang See, 
Fokian, 
Ilamur, 
Kwangsi, 
Kiang See, 
Kwangtung, 



Lat. 30 to 35 

" 29 to 30 

" 24 to 30 

" 27 to 28 

" 25 to 30 

" 22 to 25 

" 30 to 35 



All these provinces are in- 
tersected by mountains and 
hills, numberless rivers wind 
their course from the moun- 
' tains and high lands to the 
ocean, and the soil is as di- 
versified as the surface. 



22 to 25 j The productions common 



to all, are Tea, Cotton, Silk, Rice, Grain, Tobacco, and 
all kinds of vegetables and fruits grown in temperate cli- 
mates, &c. Indian corn is the production of every State 
in the Union, but in some it growls more luxuriantly and 
is cultivated more generally than in others. It is the same 
with regard to cultivation of Tea in China. It covers the 
Empire and yet is more productive and more generally 
cultivated in some districts than in others. 



Upon the authority of Dr. Abel, the district more par- 
ticularly appropriated than any other to the cultivation of 
Green Tea, lies at the base of a ridge of mountains which 
divides the provinces of Che Kiang and Kiang-nan, N. 
Lat. 30 to 32°. The Black Tea District in the province of 
Fokian, is situated on the south-eastern declivity of a ridge 
of mountains dividing the provinces of Fokian from Kiang 
See, Lat. 25 to 28. Very little Tea is produced in the 
neighborhood of Canton, or south of that city, Lat. 23° 8'. 

Experience proves that the solar heats of equatorial lati- 
tudes are incompatible with the vigorous and productive 
growth of the Tea Plant, and that the subdued climate of 
the temperate zone is congenial to its nature and its native 
home. 

SOIL AND LOCATION. 

Having shown that the Tea Plant flourishes in its great- 
est strength between the 20th and 40th° of Lat., and con- 
trary to popular opinion in this country, is proof against 
the severe frosts, snow storms, and all the stern severities 
of winter, we proceed to consider the soil and location best 
adapted to the production of Tea. 

Writers, who have visited the various Tea Gardens in 
China, agree in the fact that a hilly, if not a mountainous 
country is to be chosen for Tea Plantations, rather than 
low, flat, alluvial, wet bottom lands, however rich and pro- 
ductive they may be in other kinds of produce. 

The plantations in China are generally located in the 
lower and more fertile sides of hills with a southern aspect, 
extending from 5 to 600 feet above the plain down into the 
valley, avoiding springy and wet soils, and of course a 
clayey sub-soil. All that is required in this respect is that 
the soil should be sufficiently retentive of moisture to nour- 
ish the plant. A free generous soil, too high upon the 



9 

slope to allow the plants to be injured by springs of water 
from the sides of the hills, and too low to c;cpose them to 
the violence of storms.* The easterly, are the only winds 
injurious to the plant, and it is of no avail attempting to 
cultivate on an easterly exposure. 

Mr. Gordon associated with the Assam Tea Company in 
India, visited the Tea Hills at Toa-be in 1834, and affirms, 
that the soil of those gardens was little more than sand and 
yet required no manure. Mr. Fountain, on the contrary, 
who visited the Tea Gardens in China, affirms, that the plant 
requires a rich and well cultivated soil. 

Being myself a practical amateur horticulturalist, I think 
there cannot be any difficulty in deciding between the two. 
I have always found that plants of every description re- 
quire something to live upon, and as a general rule, the 
better they are fed the more luxuriantly they grow. But 
when we consider what a heavy and continued draft is 
made upon the Tea Plant by constantly plucking, not only 
its leaves, but its early buds ; I think there can be no doubt 
but that its healthful and vigorous growth depends, in a 
great measure, upon suitable and abundant sustenance ; and 
that its very life is at stake, and liable to be prematurely 
sacrificed by starvation. Therefore I would recommend 
cultivating the Tea Garden as every Garden should be 
cultivated, by ploughing, digging, hoeing and manuring, 
when the soil requires it, and keeping it clear from weeds, 
clean, and in good heart. Nothing is ever lost by good 
husbandry, nothing gained by bad. No cultivator can 
be deluded into the expectation of reaping a crop from a 
mere sand bank ; the idea is preposterous. In the Tea 
districts of China, every cottager has his Tea Garden, from 
one to five or six acres, the produce of which supplies the 



* Fountain. Gordon's Journey to the Tea Hills at Toa-be. Chinese Re- 
pository, Vol. 4, 1835,-6. 



10 

wants of his family, and the surplus is sold to the Tea deal- 
ers, who go about the country to purchase and prepare it, 
for home and foreign markets. A gravelly sub-soil cover- 
ed with just that coating of rich mould, which gives growth 
aiid beauty to our mountain foliage, and abundant crops to 
our spreading valleys, will unquestionably naturalize the 
Tea Plant, and invest it with all its native grace and excel- 
lence. 

The quality and flavour of the Tea Leaf is not only af- 
fected by the soil, climate and location, but by the charac- 
ter and quality of the manure used in cultivation. From 
the general tenor and drift of the agricultural reports pub- 
lished in this country, I am constrained to believe that our 
farmers and horticulturalists have paid more attention, in- 
deed their chief attention, in their experiments upon ma- 
nures, to the quantity rather than to the quality of the pro- 
duce grown. 

In this way it may happen, and I am certain it does 
happen, that the inferior quality of the larger bulk is often 
less valuable than a smaller bulk of superior quality, and 
thus if I may indulge an Hybernianism, the success of the 
experiment is a failure. This is in perfect accordance with 
the fact observable in the growth of other plants. As this 
point is curious and of great importance, and of daily ap- 
plication to the husbandman, I beg to call his particular at- 
tention to it, and to illustrate it by a single example, drawn 
from my own experience, and for the correctness of which 
I can vouch. Take the article of celery which I have been 
in the iiabit of cultivating for my own table for nearly half 
a century, and which I presume is familiar to you all. 
This vegetable depends entirely for its flavour upon the 
character and quality of the manure used in its cultiva- 
tion, and not at all upon the kind of soil contiguous. I am 
quite certain that I can grow celery twice the size of any 
I have seen in this country, and yet 1 am equally certain 



n 

that it would not be fit to place upon any gentleman's 
tabic. 

The great strength of the manure, teeming with ammo- 
nia, and offensive to the senses, necessary to produce celery 
of a giant size, communicates a strong offensive fibrous 
smallage character to the plant which destroys its delicacy, 
and renders it fit only for the manure yard. If the manure 
before it is put into the trenches be thoroughly cured, the 
heat and ammonia expelled by age, and the whole mixed 
with rich mould and chloride of lime, the composition is 
sweetened, agrees with the plant, and produces a rich, ten- 
der, sweet, stocky, and most delicious head of celery. The 
same principle is applicable to varieties of potatoes. But 
I cannot pursue this enquiry further at the present moment, 
but content myself with having brought it before you and 
commended it to your practical consideration. Un- 
doubtedly the fruits of the field are directly affected by 
the peculiar properties of the aliment upon which the plant 
feeds, and that a superior flavour may be given to most of 
our fruits, or they may be divested of it, by the appropri- 
ate character of the manure and its judicious application 
by the farmer. 

Chemistry has done much for practical husbandry, but 
personal experience and close observation are, after all, the 
most certain and instructive laboratory. 

I see no reason why the quantity, quality, and flavour 
of the Tea Leaf may not be effected in the same way as 
other plants, by the process of manuring. It is quite pos- 
sible that by very high manuring we may obtain a greater 
weight of Tea Leaves of inferior quality, than by a more 
restricted system, and yet the superior quality and flavour 
of a smaller quantity from the same number of plants, may 
overbalance in value the larger quantity. 

That our soil will produce the Tea Plant, a native of 
temperate latitudes, is inferred from the fact that it produ- 



12 

oes every other species of vegetable indigenous to the tem- 
perate zoe. It would be an extraordinary thing if the 
Tea Plant were the only one it will not produce ; an abso- 
lute phenomenon ; nay, well nigh a miracle ! seeing it 
would amount to a suspension and contravention of the es- 
tablished laws of nature. We must therefore maintain, 
until we see far better evidence, to the contrary, than can 
be found in popular opinion, that our soil will produce 
every thing that grows in the temperate latitudes of this 
world, without one single exception. 

If the location of Tea Plantations requires a mountain- 
ous district, undulating hills, picturesque glades, sloping 
lawns, luxurious valleys, northern barriers, eastern bul- 
warks, and the warm beamings of a southern sun ; a muni- 
ficent Providence, foreseeing all these requirements, has 
bountifully provided and entrusted them to the hardy, vig- 
orous, industrious husbandman of our country. God has 
left him nothing to ask, he is only required to act. 



ESSAY 11. 



Ciiltivation'simple and easy — Manner of planting the seed — Cultivation of 
the plant — Picking the leaves — Labor of women and children — Cost of 
picking — No improvement attempted by the Chinese — Mode of 'curing 
Tea in China by fireing and sun drying — Mode proposed in the 
United States, by sun drying only — Great reduction of labor and ex- 
pense — Tea bettei' cured — Superior quality of Tea sent from China to 
Russia — Its cause — Age injurious to the quality of Tea — Dyeing 
Teas in China— Number of plants upon an acre — Product of the plant 
— Total expense of gathering and curing Tea, 



1. Planting. — No plant is more simple in its cultiva- 
tion, and none requires less skill and attention than the Tea 
Plant ; any one who can cultivate a cabbage can cultivate 
the Tea Plant. The Tea Seed as has been already re- 
marked, is about the size of a buck-shot. In China it is 
sown so soon as it ripens in Oct. and Nov. The hole, like 
a hill of corn, is three or four inches deep and several seeds 
are thrown into one hole, as the greater part of the whole 
do not vegetate at all.* The sprouts appear the second or 
third month after the seed is planted, and as they grow, the 
earth is gathered or hoed up a little round the root. These, 
plantings are in seedling beds of good, though not rich soil, 
and planted thick. When sufficiently grown for transplant- 
ing, they are set in rows, four feet apart each way, for per- 
manent growth, so that an acre of ground, 400 feet by 
about 109, will require 2500 plants to stock it fully. The 
plant is not generally manured, nor is it subject to irriga- 
tion, a branch of cultivation so common and expensive 



* Foreign Missionary Magazine. Sir George Staunton's Embassy. — 
Fountain. 



14 

among Oriental nations. Nor would it be practicable to 
adopt the system of irrigation generally in the Tea Planta- 
tions of China, seeing they are often situated upon the sides 
of hills and mountains ; formed into hedges, and in fact 
placed just where a footing can be found for their support. 

I do not mean to be understood as asserting that the Tea 
Plant is never irrigated, for I am aware that in some dis- 
tricts it is, but that generally it does not require the appli- 
cation of that labor. 

The Plantation now requires no more care than any or- 
dinary fruit orchard, for three years, when the plant has 
acquired sufficient growth and the leaves sufficient maturity 
to pluck for use. The Plant, however, continues to improve 
for seven years, when it comes to full maturity. But the 
plant continues to thrive until it attains the age of from ten 
to twenty years. This is the Chinese mode of planting. But 
my own method, is to plant the seed in drills about four in- 
ches apart, in rows fifteen inches apart, which allows suffi- 
cient room for hoeing and cleaning between the rows. — 
Whatever blanks may be discovered in the rows by the fail- 
ure of the seed to vegetate, may easily be supplied from the 
voung shoots, and the plants thus stand all in regular com- 
pact rows, ready for final transplantation. The lands in 
China, farmed out in small lots among an exceedingly dense 
population, are so valuable, that the occupants often culti- 
vate green vegetables between the rows of Tea Plants, and 
thus extend their crops. Necessity may compel, and per- 
haps justify, such an unwise mode of cultivation. But 
unless the land is very highly manured, nothing is gained, 
but labor lost, what one plant gains, the other loses. Both 
are partially starved, neither fully fed. 

2. Cultivation. — There cannot be a greater mistake 
in the art of cultivation, than that of huddling plants one 
upon another. It is like setting one potatoe before two 
Irishmen ; there is not enough for both, and being equal- 



15 

ly hungry, tliey are very likely to quarrel for possession. 
The roots and fibres of plants are far more numerous, and 
extend three or four times the distance that is generally 
imagined, and they are just as sensitive to short com- 
mons, as the farmer himself. Let them have elbow-room 
and plenty of food, and it must be a bad season, if they 
do not flourish. 

3. Gathering. — There are three pickings of leaves, 
sometimes four, during the season. The husbandman will 
perceive when the leaves are ready for gathering. In the 
district of Chekieng, near Ningpo, Lat. 31°, the first crop 
of leaves is gathered about the middle of April, varying, of 
course, according to location, and the early or late appear- 
ance of Spring. This gathering consists of the young haf- 
huds just as they begin to unfold, and makes the finest quali- 
ty of Tea. They call it in China, Young Hyson or Gun 
Powder, and it is held in the highest estimation by the 
natives. In two or three weeks from the first picking, or 
early in May, the shrubs are again covered with fresh leaves 
and are ready for a second gathering. This is the most 
important. The leaves are more fully grown, more abun- 
dant, and less labor is bestowed in the gathering. The 
leaves do not require to be plucked singly like the buds, but 
they are rather stripped off the branches. The third and 
generally the last gatehring, takes place so soon as 
the new leaves are formed, and produces a coarser, and in- 
ferior kind of Tea, used profusely by the laboring class of 
people. It will be perceived therefore, that the same plant 
produces annually three or four different qualities of Tea, 
and of course of different value. 

The labor of gathering the leaves is performed chiefly by 
women and children. They wear a white cloth over their 
heads to protect them from the heat of the sun. Each per- 
son carries a little stool with one sharp foot, which is stuck 
into the ground and serves as a seat; also a small round 



16 

basket which holds about a peck and a half.* Thusequip- 
ed, you will perceive the labor is light and the employment 
agreeable ; indeed it furnishes a suitable occupation at a 
suitable season of the year, for the aged matron, who can 
sit upon a stool and pick a leaf, or the infant of tender years 
who cannot be overtasked by so simple and light employ- 
ment, or the lady of high degree who may prefer the gentle 
exercise and fresh breezes of the morning air, to the close 
confinement of domestic duties. 

It is considered a good day's work, to gather from twen- 
ty-five to fifty pounds of green leaves. The women and 
children, are paid about one-third of a cent, for gathering a 
pound of green leaves, or ten cents for thirty pounds. Five 
pounds of green leaves, produce one pound of dry tea. 

Curing. — Although I design to avail myself of the 
Chinese mode of cultivation and of curing teas, so far as 
it is applicable to our country, yet 1 shall neither adopt my- 
self, nor recommend to others any particular practice because 
it is Chinese. More especially do I consider this course 
expedient, when I consider that this singular people are not 
distinguished for independence of thought, or intellectual 
pre-eminence, but have continued to follow in the footsteps 
of their ancestors, from generation to generation, without 
making the slightest improvement in their government, 
laws, literature, agriculture, commerce, and religion. An 
absurdity once established, is an unmodified absurdity 
forever. 

I am aware that we have much to learn from our own 
experience, but there are some philosophical principles 
which lie within the reach of common sense, and which no 
Chinese apathy can obscure, or obstinacy change. Under 
the head of curing Tea, I purpose pointing out some par- 

* Chinese Repository. Foreign Missionary Magazine. William's Mid- 
dle Kingdom of the Chinese Empire. 



IT 

tlculars which I apprehend, although differing widely from 
Chinese customs, will prove, in a view of extended cultiva- 
tion, of vast consequence to the agricultural interests of our 
country. 

There are two methods of performing the operation of 
curing Teas practised in China. One for home consumption, 
the other for exportation, although both methods are some- 
times used reciprocally. 1 will explain both, and show that 
our imported Tea can never, by any possibility, equal in rich- 
ness of flavor, the Tea consumed in China or exported by 
land to Russia ; and at the same time point out a decided 
improvement which may be introduced in this country, I'e- 
sulting in reduction of labor and expense, and a greater 
perfection of the Tea. 

So soon as the Green Tea leaves are plucked, they are 
spread in the shaded su?'. ''or a short time and suffered to 
wither. When they begin to have a light withered appear- 
ance, they are taken into the house and placed on a frame 
work to cool for half an hour. They are then put into 
small baskets, and workmen are employed to soften the 
leaves still more by clapping them gently between their 
hands for a few minutes. They are then put on the frames 
again for about half an hour, until the leaves become to the 
touch like soft leather. Next comes the process of Fireing. 
The leaves are put into thin, shallow, round cast-iron pans, 
which are fixed in a circular mud or brick fire-place in 
such a manner that the flame of the fire cannot ascend, to 
annoy the operator. The pans are well heated with straw 
or any combustible matter, to a degree less than scorch- 
ing heat. About two pounds of the leaves are put into each 
pan and spread so that the leaves may receive the same de- 
gree of heat. To prevent burning, the leaves are constantly 
turned with the hand or a bamboo brush. When the leaves 
become sufficiently hot to inconvenience the hand, they are 
taken out quickly, and delivered to another pei'son with a 



18 

close basket to receive them. After the pans have been 
charged three or four times in this manner, a bucket of cold 
water is thrown into the pans, and a soft brick bat used 
with a broom to scour them out. The water is thrown out 
of the pans by the broom upon one side without disturbing 
the pans. 

The leaves all hot as they come from the pans and bas- 
kets, are spread on a bamboo table with a narrow rim upon 
its back to prevent the baskets from slipping off when push- 
ed against it. About two pounds of hot leaves are divided in- 
to two or three parts, and distributed to as many workmen 
who stand round the table with the leaves before them. — 
The leaves are collected by them with their hands into a 
ball and propelled along the table, the right hand gently 
pressing the ball down to give it consistency and to express 
the juice from the leaves. The art consists in giving the 
ball a circular motion, and permitting it to turn round, in 
and under the hand two or three whole evolutions, before 
the arms are extended at full length and drawing the ball 
quickly back without leaving a leaf behind. This opera- 
tion is continued from five to ten minutes. The ball of 
Tea is occasionally opened out with the fingers, and raised 
as high as the face, and let fall again, to separate the 
leaves.* 

The leaves now undergo a second operation of fireing 
in a manner similar to the first ; and then a second rooling ; 
after which, they are put into the drying baskets, and spread 
on a sieve which is in the centre of the basket, and the 
whole placed over a charcoal fire. This is carefully regu- 
lated, the charcoal judiciously selected, and the fire fanned 
when lighted until it gets into a fine glare, and every particle 
of smoke is expelled. When the leaves are put intojthe dry- 
ing basket, they are gently separated by lifting them up with 

*Dr. Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures. Chinese Repository, 
vol. 8, p. 14. 



19 

the Iiands and allowing them to drop. They are placed 
four or five inches deep upon the sieve having a passage in 
the centre, for the heated air to pass through ; this is the 
third and generally the last process of fircing. The Tea 
is now assorted, prepared for sale, and disposed of to the 
Tea merchants. 

The first gathering, you will remember, was of the Tea 
buds just upon their opening into leaf All that ([uality is 
gathered bud by bud, rooled separately by the fingers, and 
forms that small round Tea, called Gun Powder. The 
succeeding crops, go through a less exact and elaborate 
manipulation. 

This tedious process of fireing is undoubtedly necessary 
in China, when Teas are cured for exportation to Europe 
or the United States. The length of the voyage, renders 
the entire exclusion of moisture, and its consequent 
exposure to vegetable heat and incipient decomposition, in- 
dispensible. But the same reason does not rule, in reference 
to the United States. The introduction of Atlantic Steam 
Navigation, supersedes the necessity of curing Teas for 
exportation to Europe by fireing. We can sun dry all 
our Teas and deliver a cargo in fifteen days from the port 
of shipment, instead of one hundred from the ports of China 
or India. In twenty days from the time of plucking the 
leaf, we can deliver Tea to the consumer in London or 
Paris, fresh as if grown in Kew gardens, or the garden of 
plants. Such an advantage, if it stood alone, is certain to 
give the American cultivator the pre-eminence in supplying 
this great staple of consumption, to the population of 
Europe. No competition can stand against it. We have 
the right, the privilege, the power, and none can pluck them 
fiom our hands. We must supply Tea for our own con- 
sumption, and for the nations of Europe, because we can 
supply a better quality at a cheaper rate than any other 
nation. In this respect we are not the middle Kingdom of 
China, but the middle Kingdom of the civilized world. — 



20 

The blessing of God, our own industry, and 8team Naviga- 
tion, will force upon us the Tea trade. 

Sun Drying. — But to proceed to the second method 
practiced in China of curing Tea, that of Sun drying. — 
This mode is confined to Teas for home consumption, and 
exportation by land to Russia, and is, I apprehend, the only 
mode adapted to the practice of this country, whether the 
Tea be designed for home consumption or exportation. 

Every horticulturist of ordinary experience must be -ac- 
customed to cure domestic herbs, as mint, sage, sweet mar- 
joram and the like, for family use. He knows the expo- 
sure of herbs to a very hot sun at first, is not the best way 
of curing them ; but a shaded sun and dry air will accom- 
plish the object in a more gradual and perfect manner. The 
herb is perfectly cured, the whole flavour retained, and the 
labour trifling. Independently of the saving of labour, 
the great advantage of sun drying results from the fact 
that the aroma of the Tea, its rich fragrant properties, es- 
caping from the essential oil of the leaf are more entirely 
preserved, and our American sun cured Tea must of ne- 
cessity, and as a natural consequence of that mode of cur- 
. ing, be far superior to any that can be imported from 
China or India. From 1810 to 1815, I was engaged in 
the Russian trade between London, St. Petersburgh and 
Archangel. I used to request my Captains to bring me a 
small catty of Green Tea when they returned from 
Russia for my own use. I could not import any large 
quantity, as I was obliged to smuggle what I did get, be- 
cause the East India Company, under their gigantic char- 
tered monopoly, stood like an avenging angel with flaming 
sword to defend and protect their paradisaical Tea Gar- 
dens from the encroaching foot of the less privileged. But 
I always succeeded in getting in a small quantity. That 
Tea delighted and astonished all who drank of it. The 
room where it was made was perfumed with the most del- 



21 

icate and exquisite fragrance and the luxury to all lovers 
of good Tea, could not be paralleled in London. At that 
time I only knew the fact, but was entirely ignorant of the 
cause of this excellence. But since my attention has been 
drawn to the cultivation of the Tea Plant in the United 
States, I learn that all the Tea destined for the Russian 
market from China, is su7i dryed, and all of course trans- 
ported by land carriage. The mystery is explained, the 
cause of superiority developed and a lesson recorded for 
our instruction. 

Age is detrimental to the quality of Tea. It divests it 
of a portion of its aromatic properties, and causes a lifeless, 
spiritless, tasteless insipidity. The charter of the English 
East India Company compelled the corporation always to 
keep a year's stock on hand. The consequence was, the 
people of England always drank old, and therefore bad 
Tea, sometimes two or three years old. It is a singular 
fact that they had used it for so long a time, that even the 
old Tea dealers of London were perfectly satisfied that old 
Tea was better than neio, and that no Tea was fit for use 
until it had been kept two or three years. At the time when 
the East India Company monopoly was abrogated in 1833, 
and went into full effect in April, 1834, I remember hold- 
ing an argument with an old Tea dealer in London, who 
had been all his life in the Tea trade, upon this identical 
point. He maintained most strenuously that we should 
find the opening of the Tea trade a most tremendous and 
aggravated evil, because the market would be inundated 
with fresh Tea, and we should have none old enough to be 
fit for use. In corroboration of my opposite views, I men- 
tioned to him a circumstance which occurred in 1807. I 
was on a journey in company with the late Col. Humphrey 
ex-minister to the court of Madrid, and his lady from Rot- 
terdam to Paris. We arrived, after stopping a short time 
at Antwerp, at Brussels in the afternoon. Being much fa- 



22 

tigued, for we had no steam ships or raih'oads in existence 
then, we ordered Tea with our dinner. It was })ccuharly 
fine and exceedingly fragrant ; I could find none ec^ual to 
it in London. I called the waiter to enquire where it was 
obtained. He replied that an American ship had just ar- 
rived at Antw^erp from China, and this was some of her 
tea. Here was another exemplification, and it seems extra- 
ordinary that any exemplification at all should be necessary 
of so plain a matter of fact, that this comparatively 
new Tea had not had time to lose its original fine qualities 
by age, seeing we drank it as near the time of its being 
cured as practicable. My argument however availed 
nothing against deep rooted and full grown prejudice, and 
my old friend, the Tea dealer, remained of the same oj)in- 
ion still. But time and truth which tread down ignorance 
and folly prevailed at last, and the Tea drinkers of England 
have learned that old Tea is a very different thing from old 
wine. 

One more testimonial on this point will suffice. 

The Foreign Missionary published in New York, Sep- 
tember, 1847, No. 47, contains an article from an American 
Missionary, giving an account of his journey to the Tea 
Gardens near Ning-po, where Green Tea is grown. He 
remarks that " we drank some Green Tea in less than thirty- 
six hours from the time the leaves were plucked from the 
plant. There is hardly anything so delicious as fresh 
Green Tea drank, as the Chinese always drink it, without 
sugar or milk. But," he continues, " you must come to 
China if you w ish to taste this luxury, for all green Tea 
loses much of its flavour by being kept ; and the finest 
kinds will not bear to be transported across the ocean." 
This, a late and undeniable authority, is sufficient I trust to 
establish the facts for which I contend, that we shall never 
have the finest qualities of Teas until we cultivate them 
ourselves, and negative the opinion that we must make a 
voyage to China for a cup of good Tea. 



23 

Considering the dry atmosphere, air, and hot summer's 
sun with which we are favored, I apprehend we cannot 
have any occasion for fireing the Tea Leaf at all. But a 
judicious system of sun drying is all that can be required 
in this country in fine weather. In foul weather and a 
pressure- of work, an air stove, easily constructed, would 
be a cheap, cleanly, and I think effectual method of curing 
the leaf. 

The manipulations of the leaves, whether old or young, 
can be of no use excepting for a disguise. The quality of 
the Tea cannot be changed by changing the shape of the 
leaf, abundantly evidenced by its resuming its original shape 
by infusion in boiling water. I cannot help thinking there- 
fore, that all this studious preparation aside from drying, is 
entirely adapted to the eye, and by long continued custom 
the thing becomes in some degree necessary to meet the 
fashion of foreign markets, and gratify the pre-conceived 
notions of an ignorant and formal people. But there can 
be no necessity for treading in the footsteps of ignorance, 
and relinquishing the dictates of common sense until we 
find by experience that a Tea leaf must be rooled into a 
wad before its Tea-making properties can be developed. 
This is a match to the wisdom of the old Tea dealer. At 
any rate we know, if any benefit results from rooling the 
Tea leaves in the process of curing, we can perform that 
operation just as easily and just as cheaply as a Chinaman. 

DYEING. 

Although we can hardly consider the Chinese a very 
knowing or a very wise people, yet they are knowing 
enough, and wise enough, and cunning enough, to adapt the 
style of their commodities to the taste of their customers. 

When they perceive that their English and American 
purchasers judge the quality of Teas by their colour, rather 
than by their taste, their ingenuity is challenged to suit the 



24 

colour to the market, and by the use of various dyes and 
drugs to make the worse appear the better quahty. This 
is an habitual and common practice. Logwood, copperas, 
carbonate of copper, prussian blue, &c., are all used accor- 
ding to the shade of colour and particular bloom required. 
But perhaps the most deleterious of all the dyes used is the 
Prussian blue, a subtle poison, most destructive to health, and 
the only reason why we are not poisoned to death out and 
out, is that the quantity used is not quite sufficient. But 
although the Chinese are not very particular to guard the 
health of their neighbors, they are vigilant enough to 
watch over their own. They never poison themselves. 
They are satisfied with the taste and quality of the Tea 
without regard to the colour. If this does not show ge- 
nius, at any rate it shows a roguish disposition to accom- 
modate us barbarians, by gratifying our national whims 
when it is their interest so to do. I propose to abolish all 
dye shops and to preserve the quality of our Tea beverage, 
by the exclusion of all poisons and all other drugs from the 
Tea-pot, and by a complete restoration of the herb to its 
natural purity. If this purification should in any degree 
contract the circle of medical practice, and curtail the 
bills of mortality, it will show that the tomb has already 
received its tribute from that source, and we decline pay- 
ing any further demand. 

It is not enough to satisfy ourselves that the Tea Plant 
will flourish in the United States. It is necessary to con- 
sider its product and the expense of growing and prepa- 
ring the leaf for consumption. If the cultivation will not 
remunerate the husbandman, it is of little consequence 
whether the plant will grow in our climate or not. 

It has been already noticed that the Tea Plant is set in 
rows four feet apart each way in regular plantations. An 
acre of land therefore, 400 by about 109 feet, will receive 
2500 plants. The average product of three years old plants 



25 

according to Mr. Gordon's Report, which is the lov;est es- 
timate I have seen, is 1 ^ ounces of dry Tea for each plant^ 
equal to 208 pounds an acre. But the product of more 
fully grown and larger sized plants will average about 5 or 
6 ounces for each plant, and some have estimated the lar- 
gest trees to average from IC to 24 ounces each.* But I 
think the range of productions from the lowest estimate for 
young plants, Ig^ ounces, av., to the highest for larger plants, 
6 ounces, may be depended upon as correct general average 
product. No doubt some plantations will be more produc- 
tive than others, from better cultivation, better soil, and 
better location, and we may fairly take the general aver- 
age of production at 3i ounces, av,, for each plant — equal 
to '547 pounds per acre. The value, like cotton, tobacco, 
wine, and other products of the vegetable kingdom, will 
depend upon the quality. The finest bud Tea will be 
worth two dollars a pound ; the coarsest and inferior quali- 
ties, pez'haps fifty cents. An assumed average may be taken 
at dollar a pound. 

THE EXPENSE OF GATHERING AND CURING THE LEAVES. 

The labour of gathering the green leaves in China is 
performed by women and children at task work. One cent 
is paid for three pounds of green leaves. 

EXPENSE OF CURING IN CHINA. 

The labour of curing Tea in China is performed by pro- 
fessional men, who travel about the country with the neces- 
sary implements for fireing and kneading the leaves, as they 
are sent to the drying establishment, constructed for the 
purpose. The regular charge is five dollars a pecul of 
133^ pounds of dry leaves. The total charge therefore 

♦ Foreign Missionary, August, 1847, New York, by W. M. L. 

5 



26 

from the shrub to its preparation for market, is for gather- 
ing five pounds of green leaves equal to one pound of dry 
Tea. 

Curing, One cent — 66 mills bl. 

By professional men for market, Three " 70 " " 



Five Cents, Thirty-six Mills, 5 36 per pound. 

To prepare Tea for home consumption or exportation 
in this country, we do not consider it necessary to go 
through the process oi fireing, nor the various manipula- 
tions connected with that process ; the expense of labour 
Avill therefore be proportionably diminished, and supposing, 
wiiat undoubtedly is the fact, that the value of labour is 
much less in China than in the United States, the differ- 
ence in the quantity of labour expended will probably 
equal the difference of value, and reduce the actual ex- 
pense in both countries to about the same level. Five dol- 
lars and thirty-six cents, will, we imagine, cover the ex- 
pense of gathering and curing a hundred pounds of Tea in 
the United States. But whether it will or not, there is 
ample margin for a greater expenditure, should it be neces- 
sary, without extinguishing the ardor, or discouraging the 
hopes, or materially abridging the profits of the husband- 
man. So long as we can grow a pound of Tea, at as 
little expense as we can grow a pound of cotton, we shall 
never want a market nor encouragement to supply it. 

We cannot ascertain with any accuracy the average 
rent and taxes upon an acre of Tea growing land in China, 
but we may venture to assert that the annual expendi- 
ture on that score, will exceed the purchase money of an 
acre of freehold land in this country. 



27 



ESSAY III. 



Hcalhfulness of Tea Beverage — Exemption of the Chinese from the Influ- 
enza — Few Cases of Cholera in China — None of the Plague or 
Stone — Moral and Social Effects of Tea Drinking — Proved salutary 
in Russia and Great Britain — Chemical analysis denominates its 
wholesome qualities. 



If I were about to recommend the introduction of a 
plant which in its use, could in any degree prove detrimen- 
tal to the health of the population of the community, 1 
should, whatever adventitious advantages it might promise, 
shrink fi'om the responsibility. But so far from that being 
the case, he may boldly and fearlessly challenge the expe- 
rience of mankind, the history of the plant, and the science 
of the materia medica, to produce a single instance of its 
deleterious effects upon the constitution of man. On the 
contrary, all combine to prove that nothing used as a bev- 
erage, has yet been discovered so salutary to the constitu- 
tion, so agreeable to the taste, so refreshing to the spirits^ 
so innocent in its essential properties, and so tranquilizing 
to the nervous system as the free use of Teas. Allow me 
to enlarge a little upon this point, and to adduce some 
powerful authorities to fortify and confirm these remarks. 
In China, where the plant is most cultivated, and has been 
from time immemorial, and most universally and most pro- 
fusely used, we naturally look for the strongest and most un- 
equivocal testimony of its practical consequences upon the 
human constitution. No other nation uses it at all times, 
and so generally, as almost entirely to exclude all other 
kinds of beverage. It is not an unusual thing for a labour, 
ing Chinaman to drink a hundred cups a day. It is always 



28 

ready prepared in a vessel provided for that purpose, and 
all this, which we should be apt to consider an excessive 
consumption, without the slightest injury to the general 
health and physical system. But it ought to be borne in 
mind that the Chinese use it pure, unadulterated with noxious 
dyes, and unmixed with exciting drugs. The celebrated 
Dr. Letsum, of London, raises his potential voice against 
the villainous habit of Tea dealers in vending Teas deterio- 
ated by spurious mixtures of trash, worse he says " than 
dirt. The effects of bad Teas upon the system are always 
deleterious and distressing, if not positively dangerous. 
Constriction of the chest, depression, craving emptiness, 
sinking of the stomach, etc., etc., are the inseparable conse- 
quences. Whilst pure, good Tea exercises the most invig- 
orating and renovating effects on the general system." The 
caution of the purchaser is one remedy, but he is not al- 
ways a good judge, and often purchases Tea because it is 
Tea, without sufficient ability and experience to discrimi- 
nate between genuine pure Tea and its worthless imitation. 
Therefore, the only certain protection against imposition, 
is to grow it one's self, and preserve it pure as he would any 
other herb of domestic use. One more case I beg to men- 
lion which involves matter for serious reflection, especially 
for the southern portion of our population. I find the arti- 
cle in an anonymous publication on the subject of Tea and 
its medicinal effects. The author quotes a letter written by 
an East India Captain in the East India Company's Ser- 
vice, addressed to the Medico-Botanical Society, London. 

He remarks, " There are two circumstances connected 
with the exemption of the Chinese from epidemics, that 
have spread such devastation among the inhabitants of 
every corner of the globe, which have fallen particularly 
under my observation, and which I take the liberty of lay- 
ing before you. The one is, that when in China, during 
the year 1829, the influenza prevailed to such an extent on 



29 

board the ships in the Fleet, and also among Europeans in 
Canton, that scarcely one escaped the complaint. On 
board one ship in particular, out of a crew of 136, no less 
than 120 \Vere laid up with the epidemic at one time, yet 
neither then, nor up to the time of my last voyage to China, 
had a single Chinese, that I could hear of, been attacked 
with the influenza, although in the mean time this epidemic 
had spread overall India and Europe, and crossing the At- 
lantic, had visited America. The other fact is, that al- 
though on each one of eight voyages I made to China, 
many of my crew had fallen a prey to cholera, yet I have 
never heard of a Chinese being attacked with this fatal epi- 
demic. And this is the more remarkable from the crowded 
population of the country, subsisting as they very often do 
on very unwholeseme food. As then the Chinese, with 
whom Tea is the universaal diluent, have escaped diseases 
that other nations, and more particularly the Coflfee drink- 
ing French, have suffered so much from, it may not be un- 
worthy the attention of the society, whether Tea may not 
be regarded as the principle cause of this happy exemp- 
tion from such fatal and wide spreading maladies." 

The Captain is undoubtedly correct in respect to his im- 
mediate sphere of observation. Canton, at the time he 
wrote, as to the non-appearance of the cholera in China, 
but further evidence rebuts his testimony so far as it relates 
to that particular disease. Upon the authority of the Chi- 
nese Repository, it appears that the cholera raged at Ning- 
po in 1820-23, at Amoy and Changchau and the vicinity 
of those places in 1842. We have no account of its ap- 
pearance in Canton, excepting a few cases in 1835.* 

But it is a remarkable fact in connection with this branch 
of the subject, that the Javanese and Chinese Tea drinkers 
are entirely exempt from those two great scourges of the 
human family, the plague and the stone. f Nevertheless, 

* Chinese Repository, Vol. 4, p. 48. t Chinese Repository ,Vol. l,p. 488. 



30 

when we consider the density of the population of China, 
450 in some provinces to the square mile, and the vast ag- 
gregate of 300,000,000 who people the country, we cannot 
fail to perceive that the ravages of the cholera in China, 
compared with its desolating career in Europe and 
America have been small indeed. If we step from China 
to the vast empire of Russia, we shall find a hardy, vigor- 
ous, and healthful population, accustomed through all the 
various grades of society to the free use of the best Tea 
consumed out of China. We do not mean to affirm that 
this general soundness of health is the effect of Tea drink- 
ing only, but we do mean to affirm that Tea drinking has 
not impaired it, so that the evidence, though negative, is still 
in favour of the beverage. 

In England, the consumption of Tea, even under the 
crushing pressure of a duty of fifty cents a pound, has 
greatly increased within the last few years upon the sole 
ground of benefitting and preserving the health. The cur- 
rent of popular opinion js setting strongly against the use 
of Coffee ; it is considered as exciting to the system, provo- 
king watchfulness, feverish re-action and plethora, whilst 
Tea acts as a gentle diuretic, promotes digestion, sooths the 
stomach, and tranquilizes, rather than excites the nervous 
system. 

In France, as well as in our country, we usually find co- 
pious drinkers of Coffee dyed a beautiful saffron colour, af- 
fording the most palpable evidence of incipient disease and 
organic derangement. It is hard to change old habits and 
perhaps unfair to charge all our complaints to one, and yet 
it does seem a little singular when a person sees his own 
sallow face, that he does not take the hint, change his diet, 
and watch its effects. 

In this country, particularly, there is a marvelous tenden- 
cy in all classes to raise a mighty cry against the presence 
of bile, and to refer all complaints to its maledictive influ- 



31 

ence, just as if it were some poisonous substance which 
had crept into the system, instead of a necessary healthful 
element of our organic combination, aiding, and directing 
its functions in all the various operations of the animal 
economy. 

At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, M. 
Peligot read a paper on the chemical combinations of Tea. 
lie stated that Tea contained essential principles of nutri- 
tion far exceeding its stimulating properties, and showed 
that Tea, in every respect, is one of the most desirable ar- 
ticles of general use. In one of his experiments on the 
nutritious quahties of Tea as compared with those of soup, 
the result was decidedly in favour of the former. It was 
found to -contain a large proportion of azote approaching 
to animal matter, and to exercise a powerful influence upon 
the anim.al system, and particularly in its promoting the se- 
cretion of bile. 

Coffee, as well as Tea, possess this chemical characteris- 
tic principle, and it is a singular fact that they agree in no 
other quality. It has been suggested that the extensive 
use of these two articles of food and luxury among all the 
civilized nations of the earth, would seem to argue a mani- 
festation of Divine Wisdom in providing them so abun- 
dantly for the health and enjoyment of the human family. 

Tea beverage holds a moral, social, and religious influ- 
ence over domestic society. The equinimity of the family 
circle is steadily maintained. A scolding, brawling termi- 
gant is out of place, she is more likely to be a Gin than a 
Tea Drinker. We would always have Tea upon the table 
if it were of no other use than to preserve and fortify do- 
mestic cheerfulness. To the ladies therefore, whose sphere 
is domestic tranquility and whose prerogative it should be 
to maintain it, the subject comes bearing its own recommen- 
dation in the cup, "that cheers but not inebriates." 

Tea induces a subdued cheerfulness, adverse to hasty, 



32 

uncontrolled passion, brawlings, fightings, and tumultuous 
strifes ; neither depressing the spirits, by gloomy shadows 
of future ills, nor elevating them beyond that sober and 
discreet point, consistent with the condition of mankind^ 
hourly exposed to the various disasters and vicissitudes of 
life. The thi^ughts of one thus possessing his soul in cheer- 
ful tranquility sit easy upon him, and his faculties clear and 
undisturbed are always in a train to afford himself enter- 
tainment, to administer comfort to his neighbour, or, what is 
more important, to hold high communion with the Great 
Author of his being. 

He knows how to enjoy and to relish in temperance, the 
blessings a kind Providence has spread around him, and 
others are imperceptibly led by the force of his example 
to participate in the same enjoyments. This is the highest 
attainment to which our fallen nature in its present tran- 
sitory existence can aspire. Good health is so nearly al- 
lied to the temper of the mind, that we must always recog- 
nize its near affinity with whatever tends to improve or con- 
trol it. 

Water alone, although cherished by enthusiasts, and 
puffed by reformed drunkards, from the earthy substances 
held in solution, from the innumerable animalculae sporting 
in their bath, imperceptible indeed to the naked eye, but 
visible and frightful enough when viewed through a micro- 
scope, is always unsuitable for a general beverage, and 
more likely to breed than to assuage disease. When puri- 
fied by boiling and qualified by an infusion of Tea, it is di- 
vested of its impurities, ebbs and flows freely in its clarified 
state, through the delicate channels that receive it, impart- 
ing strength and vigour, and beauty to the human system. 

The medical profession, whatever may be the vague and 
baseless opinions sometimes formed and expressed of the 
tendency of Tea to induce nervous affections, must never- 
theless yield to the demonstrations of science followed out 



33 

by the enlightened practice of nations. The human mind 
expands as gradually as a cotton plant, and is always reluc- 
tant to abandon an old thought or to accord with a new 
one. When Tea was first introduced into Europe, about 
1660, the public, who knew nothing at all about the matter, 
were greatly alarmed for the safety of the state. 

A Frenchman raised a hue and cry against its introduc- 
tion, and called it the impertinent novelty of the age. In 
Germany, Tea dealers were considered as immoral sub- 
jects, thieves, rogues, and hostile to the peace of society. 
A physician in England was more charitable. He consid- 
ered the pretended virtues of Tea as a deep laid sch-^me to 
encourage its importation and to sack the pockets of the 
people. From that day to this, the consumption of Tea 
has continued to increase in both Europe and America, 
and the longevity of the people has increased with it. At 
any rate, in no Tea drinking country has the health of the 
people been abridged, or the measure of life shortened. 



34 



ESSAY IV. 

China supposed to be the only country capable of growing Tea — Examples 
of Tea cultivation in districts out of China — Java — Brazil — Assem — 
District of Kamaon — North -wej.t provinces of India. 



The mind of all nations has been fastened exclusively 
upon the soil of China as the only land which Divine Wis- 
dom has prescribed for the cultivation of the Tea Plant. 
Until very i-ecently, no efforts whatever have been made 
to test the validity of this established opinion, and to show 
that the Celestial Empire has no charter guaranteeing to 
her the monopoly of this vast and profitable field of agri- 
cultural industry. The supremacy of intellect in this coun- 
try has bowed submissively to the common delusion without 
enquiry into its character, and without the slightest attempt 
to dissolve it. It becomes therefore a matter of paramount 
importance to examine how far we can gather evidence 
from actual experiments to prove the fallacy of such opin- 
ions, and to fortify and confirm our views in the prosecu- 
tion of an agricultural enterprize, new to our country. 

All the experiments that have been made are of recent 
origin ; if all have failed we must admit the evidence 
is against us, and our prospect of success too circumscribed 
to justify another experiment. But if, on the contrary, no 
experiment has failed, but all have succeeded, then we 
have a demonstration in our favour which supersedes the 
idea of its being a mere theoretic speculation, throws all 
doubt to the winds, and places the hope of the husband- 
man upon a basis, which cannot be shaken. 

1st. The Dutch made the first movement to break the 



35 

charm of Chinese monopoly, by introducing and cultivating 
the Tea Plant, in their rich and fruitful colony of Java. 
That Island lies between the G!h and 8th degree of South 
Latitude. They succeeded in the cultivation. The moun- 
tain range which runs through the centre of the Island, is 
the most productive, because the Tea Gardens, extending 
from near the base, high up the mountains, reach an atmos- 
phere tempered by elevation. The plant escapes the 
scorching heats of the torrid zone, and finds a climate by 
height, rather than by latitude, adapted to its nature. But 
the plant is not confined to lofty ridges. In the plains, the 
hedges, and fences if one may so call them, are all planted 
with the Tea shrub, which flourish in greater or less per- 
fection throughout the Island. But, as has been already 
intimated, the equatorial latitudes are not the most auspi- 
cious for the vigorous growth of a plant that requires a 
temperature, equally removed from the extremes of heat 
and cold, and the quality of the Tea is as much effected by 
the climate as the growth of the plant. Considerable 
quantity of Tea is annually shipped from Java to Europe, 
but the extention of the cultivation is no doubt checked by 
the exceeding fertility of the soil, and its adaptation to the 
growth of the rich products of tropical regions. 

2nd. The Tea Plant was introduced into Brazil about 
1817, when the Royal House of Braganza emigrated from 
Portugal to that Colony. The plantations lie between the 
equator and 10° South Latitude, nearly parallel with Java, 
and of course are exposed to the same intemperate climate, 
and suffer in a similar manner. In addition to these physi- 
cal disabilities, the enterprize has had to contend with the 
natural indolence of the natives, the universal repugnance 
to labour, the crushing effect of committing so important a 
work to the superintendence of slaves and overseers, the 
amazing fertility of the soil, the extent of unappropriated 
land, the ease with v/hich subsistence can be obtained 



36 

and the low degree of personal enterprize. These are 
frowning features and would rather seem to indicate a fail- 
ure before the attempt at cultivation was made. But never- 
theless the plant does flourish to some extent even in Brazil, 
under all the disparaging circumstances which surround it. 
From the Brazillian Consul General, Louis H. J. De Aqui- 
ar, Esq., whom I have consulted on this subject, I learn that 
although the plant for some years after its first introduc- 
tion received but little attention, and was almost abandoned, 
yet within the last few years the cultivation has revived, 
and is now prosecuted with energy, and with a correspond- 
ing success. Some of the large and wealthy land propri- 
etors of Brazil have directed their attention to the cultiva- 
tion of the Tea Plant ; and he mentioned one gentleman in 
particular, whose name I do not at this moment recollect, 
who had entirely abandoned his Coffee Plantations, and di- 
rected his attention to the cultivation of the Tea Plant. 
The market of Rio Janeiro is supplied entirely with Tea 
of domestic growth, and the public mind is awakened to 
the prominent fact, that no plant cultivated in Brazil is more 
profitable, and none is now receiving more decided atten- 
tion. 

But as the veil which has hung over this subject for all 
past time is lifted, and the clear light of demonstrated facts 
disclosed, we shall perceive that the nearer we come to our 
own times, the more decisive is the evidence of the prac- 
ticability of breaking uo the Chinese monopoly and of 
freely participating in the benefits which that monopoly 
has withheld. 

To Great Britain we now turn our eyes to witness the 
most promising and satisfactory effc^rts, that have as yet 
been made, to extend the cultivation of the Tea Plant, and 
to render the British Empire independent of China, for a 
supply of an article of consumption so indispensibly neces- 
sary as Tea. Considering the commercial and agricultural 



37 

enterprize of the English, the contiguity of India to Chi- 
na, the vast amount of Tea imported, and the ample means 
and resources always at command, it does seem surprizing 
that so important a step should have been so long delayed. 
We cannot account for it upon any other hypothesis than 
that Great Britain has hitherto been more eagerly bent in 
extending, rather than improving her Indian conquests. 

The Kingdom of Assam, lying upon the eastern frontier 
of India, between Lat. 25 and 28° N. is now under the 
sway of the British sceptre. In 1834, a project originated 
in London to introduce the cultivation of the Tea Plant 
into that Kingdom. The northern section of the Kingdom 
being a broken and hilly country, was wisely selected as 
the most favourable location for the experiment. A joint 
stock company was organized in London with a large capi- 
tal, and the secretary of the company, Mr. Gordon, dis- 
patched to China in 1835, to reconnoitre the Tea-growing 
districts, and collect such information as might forward and 
facilitate the operations of the company. His success was 
partial, arising from the natural jealousy of the Chinese, 
and the difficulty encountered in penetrating the interior 
of the country. The information, however, which he gain- 
ed, very important and very minutely recorded, was trans- 
mitted to Muttuck, in Assam, with the view of formina: es- 
tablishments for the cultivation of the Tea Plant. Singu- 
lar as it may appear, it was now discovered that the Tea 
Plant w^as indigenous to Assam, grew naturally upon the hills 
and mountains, as evergreens douponour liillsand mountains 
and only required cultivation, to equal the growth of China. 
Samples of the Tea grown in Assem, were forwarded to 
London from time to time, (which I might have seen, as I 
was then residing in that city, and personally acquainted 
with some of the gentlemen concerned in the undertaking, 
and certainly should have seen, had I felt the same interest 
in the matter then, that I do now feel,) in order to test the 



38 

quality, and by exhibiting the product itself, to disarm op- 
position, and strengthen support. 

So late as 1847, twelve packages of Tea containing, 533 
pounds of black and 266 of green, were shipped to the di- 
rectorsof the East India Company the produce of Kumsoon, 
Assem, to have the value of this new article from India 
tested in the English market. The English Tea Company 
of Assem, has prosecuted the cultivation, with a zeal and 
perseverance, characteristic of the people. It is now re- 
garded as one of the most important enterprizes connected 
with British India. A steam saw-mill was early establish- 
ed, and a steamboat provided. The former to prepare the 
chests and boxes for packing, the latter for navigating the 
river Mingan, for transporting the Tea to the shipping 
posts of India.* 

The Friend of India, for March 12, 1840 remarks, 
" speaking of the prosperity and extension of the labours of 
the Company, " that no fewer than 1733 laborers have been 
sent to Assem from various ports of India, that 49 artificers 
have also been engaged, and 500 Chinese laborers, are on 
their way to Bengal, in the service of the Company." A 
communication has also been opened with the Burmese au- 
thorities, across the Monipur, with the Chinese province of 
Yunan, to induce Chinese laborers to emigrate to the Pro- 
vince of Assem. 

The strongest expectations are indulged, that ultimately 
the cultivation of the Tea Plant in British India, will 
be carried to an extent sufficient to supply the English 
market. 

The question, therefore, regarding the successful cultiva- 
tion of the Tea plant, in districts out of China, is completely 
solved by this experiment. But we are not limited to a soli- 
tary example in the East Indies. In addition to information 

♦ Chinese Repository, vol. 9, p. 113. 



39 

derived from personal correspondence with residents in the 
North West Provinces of India, I find in Simmons' Coloni- 
al Magazine, published in London, 1844, vol. 2d., an account 
of the experiments instituted at Kemaon, in the neighbor- 
hood of the Himmilay mountains, as well as at Almura, 
preparatory to the extended introduction of the Tea Plant, 
It is worthy of remark, that these plantations in N. Lat. 
about 30 to 31°, are more than 1000 miles inland from the 
shipping port of Calcutta, and still further from the planta- 
tions of Assem. " It would seem," says the writer, " that 
these experiments so far as they have gone, have been at- 
tended with complete success, but commenced as they were 
eight years ago (that is in 1836) we cannot discover from what 
cause so little progress has been made in the cultivation of 
the Plant, until two years ago, when the experiment was 
energetically carried on for the first time. In 1841 the 
nurseries consisted of twenty-three acres of ground, in 1843 
they were increased to fifty-five acres, containing 43,000 
Tea-bearing Plants, and 27,000 which will yield produce 
this year together v/ith seedlings and cuttings, sufficient to 
cover fifty-five acres of land which has been prepared for 
their transplanting. During the current year, 1844, the 
amount of Tea produced will be very greatly increased and 
we may hope from the activity of the able superintendant 
of the Botanical gardens. Dr. Jameison who has charge of 
the Tea nurseries, that the cultivation of the plant, will soon 
be demonstrated to be so profitable as to induce private 
planters to turn their attention to it. 

Specimens of the produce sent to Messrs. Thompson & 
Son, London, were declared by them to be fine flavored 
and strong equal to the superior black Teas sent them as pre- 
sents, and better for the most part, than China Teas import- 
ed for mercantile purposes. • 

Such is the most conclusive evidence afforded by this 
second East India experiment in proof of the practicability 



40 

of growing the Tea Plant, in districts out of Ciiina. But in 
reference to the last experiment, it may be doubted wheth- 
er a Botanical garden, however able the Professor presiding 
over its interests may be, is exactly the place for such an 
experiment. A gentleman who has all the exotics that can 
be collected, from the four quarters of the world, under his 
charge, can scarcely be said to occupy a position that would 
best qualify him to superintend the cultivation of the Tea 
Plant upon a national scale. By directing his attention to 
a great variety of agreeable objects, and spreading his pa- 
ternal care over so large a family, he in some measure 
disqualifies himself for that constant, minute, and practical 
attention to the Plant, which, especially when under experi- 
ment, it demands at his hands. Such an enterprize requires 
the infusion of a little Tea-leaf enthusiasm — a devotion to 
the one great object in hand ; an attachment to cultivation 
and horticultural pursuits for the love of them ; an untired 
patience and ardent zeal in communicating instruction to 
others, upon the subject most immediately in hand, rather 
than upon the general science of Botany ; particulars which 
can hardly be expected from a professed Botanist, and 
therefore we think the Editor of the Colonial Magazine 
may dismiss his surprize that so little progress was made at 
the commencement of the experiment, but rather congratu- 
late the company that, under such circumstances, the ex- 
periment succeeded at all. 



41 



ESSAY V. 



Adaptation of the United States to the culture of the Tea Plant — Position of 
those parts of the United States lying parallel with the Tea growing 
districts of China — Delaware — Maryland — Virginia— North Carolina 
— South Carolina — Georgia — Florida — Alabama — Mississippi — Lou- 
isiana — Arkansas— Missouri — Texas — Tennesee — Kentucky— Char- 
acter of the population — Conclusion. 



Having, as we trust, satisfactorily established the propo- 
sition by the evidence of repeated experiments in various 
and widely separated positions of the Globe, that there is 
nothing so peculiar in the climate, soil, and cultivation of 
Tea in China, as to confer upon or entitle her to exclusive 
privileges, or to restrain other nations from participating in 
the advantages of its culture ; we may now proceed to ex- 
amine the condition of the United States in respect to its 
adaptation to the growth of the same plant. 

We learn that the plant grows most luxuriantly in China, 
between the parallels of 20 and 45° N. Latitude. But 
above 40° and below 20° the climate embracing the extremes 
of heat and cold, will scarcely admit of the full growth and 
development of the Tea Plant. The Temperate Zone, 
therefore, designated by nature, as equally removed from 
both extremes, has been found by experience, the best suit- 
ed, in respect to climate, for Tea Plantations. 

In taking a geographical and physiological view of that 
portion of the United States, presumed best adapted to the 
growth of the Tea Plant, we may assume the Latitude of 
40° as the northern, and the Gulf of Mexico as the south- 
ern limits of the Tea growing districts. It may be a curious 
and perhaps useful inquiry as we proceed, to note the cor- 

1 



42 

responding parallels of Latitude, so that we msy see what 
places in China and India, fall under the same parallel as 
those in the same Latitude in the United States. 

The extent of country lying south of 40° N. Latitude, 
embraces Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tenessee, 
Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, fourteen states, 
and partially the four states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylva- 
nia and Missouri, whose limits, according to the above men- 
tioned division, extend both above and below the Latitude 
of 40°. I am quite aware that this view, and indeed any 
view, which embraces the idea of growing Tea at all in 
this country, is altogether at variance with the one gener- 
ally entertained ; but, we trust that those who have had 
patience to follow us in the investigation, wi see the 
error, and lend their influence in correcting it. 

The maratime district of the territory comprised within 
the limits of the several Tea growing states, mentioned 
above, extending from Galveston to Delaware inclusive, 
and stretching from fifty to one hundred miles inland from 
the coast, being generally subject to annual inundations, and 
of a low, marshy, alluvial, sandy soil, is manifestly of a 
character destitute of the required qualifications for the 
growth and cultivation of the Tea Plant. We may there- 
fore at once] exclude all that strip of land from further 
notice. 

Delaware, Lat. 38° 27' to 39° 50'. The whole of this 
state is but little, and but a small portion of that little is 
adapted to the culture of the Tea Plant. Perhaps the 
only part of this state which aftords a reasonable hope of 
success, is the northern and hilly district in the county of 
New Castle. 

The Latitude of this county is parallel with that of Pe- 
king, the Capital of China, in the northern province of 
Chihli, and one of the finest Tea growing districts in 
China. Therefore, let not Dejav/are dispair. 



43 

Maryland, Lat. 37° 56' and 39° 44'. The mountainous 
and hilly western counties of Maryland, Alleghany, 
Washington and Frederic particularly, seem to offer 
choice and advantageous locations for Tea Gardens to a 
limited extent. The position of the mountains and hills, 
running east and west, and sloping to the south, presents 
the best possible aspect. The soil, limestone and gravel, 
is congenial to the plant, and combined with the favorable 
aspect, promises well for the future cultivator. 

The Latitude of Maryland Tea growing hills, is paral- 
lel with Tsinan fu the Capitol of the province of Chang- 
tung, and one of the Tea growing provinces of China. 

Virginia, Lat. 36° 30' to 40° 43'. That there are moun- 
tains and hills and valleys and soils and rivers, in the wide 
spread domains of Virginia, sufficient to meet the demands 
of all the enterprizing Tea cultivators in the union for 
many years to come, I think no one will venture to deny. 
The introduction of a greater diversity of agrarian pro- 
ducts into the ancient dominion, together with a fresh 
infusion of modern dispatch and electric spirit, seems in- 
dispensably necessary to put forward the agricultural 
prosperity of the state. If any evergreen plant is indi- 
genous to the soil, any exotic finds a congenial climate, 
then it is most certain that Virginia may herself, in a few 
years, render the Union independent of China for our 
daily beverage. Philosophy is the teaching of experi- 
ment, and as similar causes will, under like circumstan- 
ces, produce similar effects, we argue that as the soil, cli- 
mate, temperature and location in Virginia are similar to 
the same physical causes in China, we are justified in ex- 
pecting, nay, are constrained to expect, the same effects. 

The Latitude of Virginia, on its southern limit, being 
only one degree, twenty-six minutes below that of Mary- 
land, the parallels of Latitude will pass through part of 
the Tea growing provinces, Shangtung and Shansi, north- 



44 

ward of the Yellow River, Three and an half degrees 
south of Peking. 

North Carolina, Lat. 33° 50', 36° 30'. Leaving the low, 
sandy, desolate and unhealthy coast, and penetrating the 
interior for about eighty miles we come to a broken and 
hilly surface, fertile soil, and salubrious climate, which 
seems formed and destined to be occupied by a vigorous 
and industrious population for the very purpose of en- 
riching the state by the cultivation of the Tea Plant. 

It will be noticed that we are now about G degrees 
south of Peking in a lino parallel with the great Tea grow- 
ing provinces of Kiang su, Honan and Shensi, south of 
the Yellow River, and if the Tea Plant will not grow as 
thriftily in the western part of North Carolina as it 
does in the above named Chinese provinces, there must 
be some physical cause which the wisdom and sagacity of 
philosophy have not yet discovered. 

South Carolina, Lat. 32°, 35° 8'. No cultivator of the 
Tea Plant should waste his time in searching for a favour- 
able location in this state to prosecute his labours, until he 
reaches the high hills of Santee about ninety miles from 
the ocean. He will probably find many places here suit- 
ed to his purpose, but if he fails in that, he has only to 
push on to that portion of the state, usually called the Up- 
per Country, in the north-western district, where he will 
find himself enveloped with hills and mountains, luxuriant 
valleys, crystal streams, the most fertile soil, an Italian 
sky, and a Mediterranean climate. He need go no further, 
if his object be to establish himself in South Carolina. 

We are now eight degrees south of Peking and parallel 
with the three most abundant Tea growing provinces of 
Kiang su, Nganhwui and Hupeth. It will be remember- 
ed that Peking and the circumjacent district produces the 
finest Tea grown in China. 

Georgia, Lat. 30. 42'' and 35°. The upland territory of 



« 



45 

this state, lying between 33 and 35° of Latitude, presents 
features of a rough, hilly, and in some parts, mountainous 
character, which seem to designate it as the only favored 
tract in this state destined to form the Tea Gardens of 
Georgia. , 

Blessed with a diversified and fertile soil, a healthful 
and salubrious climate, there can be no reason why Geor- 
gia, like some of the provinces of China, should not con- 
vert a portion at least, if not the whole, of her upland 
cotton into Tea growing Plantations, and thus extend the 
circle of agricultural industry to embrace a greater vari- 
ety of objects, and render those lands which are now the 
least valuable, the most productive and the most profitable. 

We are now upon a parallel of Latitude ten degrees 
south of Peking and about the centre of the Tea growing 
districts of China. Parallel with the provinces of Kiang 
su, Nganh wui, Hupeth and Szchuen, in China, and Almura 
in the north-west provinces of India. 

Florida, Lat. 25 to 30°. Notwithstanding the general 
aspect of this state does not present those rugged and aus- 
tere features which are most congenial to the growth of 
the Tea Plant, yet we cannot doubt but that sections of 
lands may be found in the state suited to its cultivation. 
It being the most southern limit of what we have, by way 
of distinction, called the Tea growing districts of the 
United States, every one must feel the importance of ex- 
tending the growth of the Tea Plant to that extreme 
limit and over the widest space ; because it is in that way 
only we can learn the particular, as well as general capa- 
city of our country for its production, and what is equally 
important, the various qualities of Tea which allotments 
of land in different states will return to the cultivator. 
We may indeed be embarassed by physical impediments, 
or encouraged by physical advantages, which lie beyond 
our present view, and which can be developed only by 



46 

experiment, yet tlie magnitude of the result is a sufficient 
inducement to command a fair trial. We cannot help, 
therefore thinking that this sunny region will early rival 
the centipodes in the rich productions of her pregnant soil. 
We are now fifteen degrees south of Pelting, and the 
Latitude of Florida is parallel with the Tea growing prov- 
inces of Fuhkien, Kiang se, Hunan, Kwichau, and Chehki- 
ang in China, Muttuck, and the Tea Gardens of the Eng- 
lish Tea Company in the kingdom of Assem, on the east- 
ern frontier of India, and at Almara and Kimaon near the 
Himmilay mountains, North-west provinces of India. 

Alabama, Lat. 30° and 35°. The southern and middle sec- 
tions of this state are subject to the same objections which 
have been noticed in reference to the Atlantic, and 
Southern States bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico. 
But North Alabama opens out an extensive field of moun- 
tainous and hilly land, which from the fertility and char- 
acter of the soil, the temperature of the climate, and the 
general features of its surface seems particularly well 
adapted to the growth of the Tea Plant. The sublimity 
of the Blue Ridge, subdued to a gentle elevation, shape- 
ing its course from east to west, and sloping off in an 
inclined plane to the southward ; presenting a sunny aspect 
on the one hand, and mountain barriers against the rude 
storm and boisterous winds of the north, on the other ; 
point out this location as one destined to form extensive 
gardens for the future cultivation of the Tea Plant. 

Its central position, in conjunction with the physical ad- 
vantages, which show themselves on every side, lead us to 
pitch upon this district as best suited, under all circum- 
stances, for the formation of nurseries of Tea Plants, as 
the basis of extended plantations and cultivation in those 
parts of the country, which the finger of Nature has 
pointed out as suitable to the growth of Tea. We are 
now about the centre of the Tea growing provinces of 



47 

China in respect to the parallel of Latitude, but not in re- 
spect to the extent of country. The portion of Alabama 
pointed out as suitable to the cultivation of the Tea Plant, 
would not equal in extent one of the seven Tea growing 
provinces of China, lying in whole or in part between the 
30th and 35th degree of Latitude. 

Mississippi, Lat. 30° and 35.° Divested of mountains 
and hilly districts, flooded to a great extent during the 
spring and rainy seasons of the year, by the overflowings 
of the river Mississippi, and spreading out a vast alluvial 
£fnd rich cotton growing soil, does not seem to possess any 
of the requirements for the successful cultivation of the 
Tea Plant. A conclusion, drawn, it will be observed, 
from a Chinese practical view of the matter in their own 
country, without knowing how far the same requirements 
will be applicable to our own. 

Louisiana, Lat. 29° and 30°. This state it may be re- 
marked is not exempt from any one of the objections 
which overrule Mississippi as a candidate for the honors 
of the Tea Pot. We must relinquish all claims upon 
her in favour of the great staples of sugar and cotton ; 
and, cannot, confer upon her, we fear, the additional boon 
of growing her own Tea. 

Arkansas, Lat. 33° and 36° 32'. The middle and west- 
ern parts of this state are described as hilly and moun- 
tainous,* and no doubt from the latitude and temperate 
climate of those uplands, an abundance of land may be 
selected, just as well adapted as any land in the United 
States or the Empire of China, in parallel latitudes, to 
the cultivation pf the Tea Plant. Seeing a new and en- 
terprizing population are now rapidly settling that coun- 
try, the Tea Plant will no doubt find friends and support- 
ers so soon as it is known that the plant can be obtained, 

* Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography; vol. 3, p. 577. 



48 

and that no more labour and care is required in its culti- 
vation than in the growth and cultivation of a peach 
tree. 

Missouri, Lat. 36 to 40° 35/ is the largest state in the 
Union, excepting Virginia ; the latter covering an area of 
70,000, the former of 66,000 square miles. It will be 
perceived that the state of Missouri lies, in reference to 
China, between Peking on the north, and the Yellow 
River on the south, embracing the northern Provinces of 
China proper and the district about Peking. There ap- 
pears to be almost every variety of soil in Missouri that 
can be found in the same parallel of latitude in the Uni- 
ted States. The surface of the state, rough and smooth, 
rocky and prairie, wet and dry, high and low, with a soil 
as various as its surface, present ample scope for the choice 
of locations adapted to the cultivation of the Tea Plant. 
And what a boundless market waits for supplies ? In- 
stead of importing Tea by the Pacific, she may send 
thither the produce of her own gardens. The west, 
the north, and the east will disclaim China, so soon as 
their wants can be supplied by Missouri. 

Texas, Lat. 28 to 34.° This young state lies parallel 
with the middle and most extensive Tea growing provin- 
ces of China. The face of the country, in its middle, 
northern, and western sections, resembles, in many par- 
ticulars, the corresponding domains of the Celestial Em- 
pire, and its climate is just that in which the Tea Plant 
most delights. The soil requires no aid from the art of 
man. Plant the shrub and you have the Tea. The na- 
tive energy, enlarged thought, and bold adventure which 
impelled the original settlers to abandon their Atlantic 
homes, and brave the dangers of a wilderness and the 
hostility of uncivilized tribes, give sufficient guarantee 
that the opening prospect of a new branch of cultivation 



49 

will not be overlooked by the husbandmen of Texas, but 
rather awakens a secret expectation, that few years will 
elapse before we shall find the Teas of Texas in the Bos- 
ton, New York, and Philadelphia markets ; and for ought 
we can know, in the cities of London and Paris. This 
would not be more extraordinary, however visionary it 
may appear at present, than the growth of cotton in the 
United States from the original seed, sprouting upon a 
dunghill, in 1786, to the enormous growth of two and a 
quarter millions of bales in 1847. When we see how 
much has been achieved and in how short a time by human 
enterprize, in the cultivation of cotton, we have reason to 
anticipate similar results from the same cause in the cul- 
tivation of the Tea Plant. 

Tenessee, Lat. 35° to 36° 40'. The western slope of 
the mountains of East Tenessee, and still better, the 
southern slope of those in Middle and Western Tenessee» 
with their delightful vallies, undulating hills, productive 
soil, and healthful climate, all combine to recommend this 
state to the special notice of those who may give their 
attention to the growth of the Tea Plant. Although its 
cultivation has been hitherto neglected because no one 
has stepped forward to introduce and recommend it to 
public notice ; to make known the simple mode of its cul- 
tivation, and the ease with which so great and necessary 
an article of domestic consumption, that shuns the torrid, 
and delights in temperate climates, can be grown, yet we 
cannot doubt but that many, fresh from the plough, when 
they read these notes will look forward, with an instinc- 
tive presience, to the certain result of the application of 
American skill and industry, to the cultivatton of the Tea 
Plant. 

Tenessee enjoys all the requirements that China can 

claim, and when made acquainted with her privileges, 

and when she sees the golden mine opened, will undoubt- 

8 



50 

edly avail herself of the gifts of Providence, and be 
thankful. 

Kentucky, Lat. 36° 30' to 39° 16'. This state is one of 
the most northern of the American Tea growing dis- 
tricts, and yet the whole of it is fifty miles south of Pe- 
king, extending thence, three degrees and a half to the 
southward, and running parallel with the great Tea grow- 
ing districts of China. This " Garden of the West" is 
the last state whose Tea growing capacity we design to 
consider. It will be perceived that I have uniformly 
avoided the low flat lands, and have rather wandered 
among mountain scenery, sought the rural beauty of hills 
and valleys, and have chosen to sit down upon a rugged 
cliff, rather than upon the muddy bottoms of rich inter- 
vals. The strict line of my duty accords with my natu- 
ral disposition. Although legal and commercial pursuits 
rendered my residence in London for thirty-eight years, 
almost a matter of necessity, yet the country was always 
my delight, rural sports and horticultural pursuits my only 
amusements. From being so long debarred, in a great 
measure, from indulging the bent of my inclinations, I re- 
turn to scenes familiar in early youth with a zest which 
privation has increased. 

Kentucky I learn is a lime stone region, and I suppose 
often a gravely soil. Its diversity of surface always 
courts a choice, and the horticulturalist or the farmer can 
accommodate his particular views, by adapting his location 
with respect to soil and site to his contemplated object. 
This, when the climate is congenial to his cultivation, is 
all that can be desired. So far as we can judge from a 
close examination of the subject, Kentucky embraces all 
the requisites the Tea Planter can covet, and if he finds 
it necessary to make a voyage to China to obtain a cup 
of good Tea, it will be because he does not choose to 
make one at home. We do not deem it necessary to en- 



51 



larcre these notes by any remarks upon the Tea capacity 
of "the amphibious states of New Jersey, Pennsy vama 
and Ohio. At the same time we fully believe it will ulti- 
mately be found that some parts of those states will pro- 
duce as fine Teas as any portion of the United States or 
of China. Even the State of New York we do not con- 
sider without the pale of production, but until instruction 
shall prevail over prejudice, and the force of interest over 
opposition, we must suspend our anticipations and wait 
the time when on-coming generations will rejoice in the 
expansion of our labours, although they may not choose 
to acknowledge them. 

From this brief and imperfect sketch of the climate, 
soil, features of the country, and general capacity of the 
United States ; from the fact that the parallels ot 
Latitude correspond with those of the principal Tea 
growing districts in China and India ; from the evidence 
afforded by all the experiments that have been made, and 
from the teachings of natural history, that every species 
of vegetable which grows in the temperate zone, in the 
four quarters of the globe, grows in the United States, 
we come to the irresistible conclusion that the Tea Plant 
will grow in the United States. Indeed, it would be mar- 
vellous if that Plant, indigenous to the temperate zone, 
should be the only one which will not grow. 

If a virgin soil, picturesque glades, sloping lawns, and 
spreading vales, and northern barriers, and eastern bul- 
warks, and the warm beamings of a southern sun are in- 
dispensable to the perfect maturity of the Tea Plant, a 
munificent Providence, foreseeing these reqmrements, has 
entrusted them all to the keeping of the American hus- 
bandman. God has left him nothing to ask, he is only re- 
quired and privileged to act. But I know full well by ex- 
perience, how hard it is to lead the thoughts of men to 
travel in a new and untried direction. They love an old 



52 

pathway and recoil at the labour of searching out a new 
one. Incredulity is a common refuge from mental toil. 
However salutary and beneficial, the introduction of a 
new thing may be either in its use or cultivation, it has 
always had to struggle with the prejudices and habits of 
mankind, before it burst into general acceptation. And 
how can it be otherwise, when opinions are formed, and 
maintained in the abstract, without any knowledge upon 
the subject under consideration, and without any disposi- 
tion to acquire it. 

If we have succeeded in proving that our soil, climate, 
and physical advantages are not only equal, but far supe- 
rior to those of China, for the growth of the Tea' Plant, 
then we are compelled to fall back upon the population of 
our country, and ask the question, which we suppose no 
one whose i^eart is warmed by the blood of an American, 
will answer in the affirmative — are we inferior in intel- 
lectual attainment, in native vigour, and habitual industry 
to the Tea Planters of the Celestial Empire ? Then why 
is it that we do not annually grow eleven million pounds 
of Tea for home consumption, and eleven times eleven 
millions for increased consumption and exportation. The 
answer involves the sum and substance of the whole in- 
vestigation, because the industry of our country has not 
been applied to the production. And if we ask a con- 
secutive question, why the industry of our country has not 
been applied to the production ? The answer is because 
no one has taxed himself with the labour of analyzing 
the subject, and of acquainting the people with the fact 
that they are the fortunate holders of such a splendid 
prize. A mighty spirit of enterprize, however, burns in» 
the bosom of our countrymen, which, kindled into action 
by a clear discernment of their own interests, overleaps 
every obstacle and urges them forward to the most mag- 
nificent results. Fearless of toil, no trifles dissuade, no 



53 

disappointments discourage, no dangers appal, no suft'er- 
ings tire, but on they go, periling health and life, body and 
soul, rushing on through trackless wilds and savage hosts, 
through mountain storms and equatorial heats, nothing can 
overawe, nothing daunt, nothing quench their burning ar- 
dour. Such are the elements to which we look for the 
execution of this great agricultural enterprize, and we do 
not entertain the slightest apprehension that we look in 
vain. 

Time will unfold the capacity of our country for the 
growth of Tea, and the native energy and accustomed in- 
dustry of the husbandman, will seize the opportunity and 
appropriate the advantages which have lain concealed 
from the creation of the world, but are now unveiled and 
disclosed to his view. 



54 



TEA STATISTICS. 

The annual consumption of Tea in the United States, 
is about 11,000,000 pounds. Upon the hypothesis that 
the average product of an acre of land is 547 pounds, it 
will require the cultivation of 20,109 acres of land only, 
to supply the present consumption of the United States. 

The consumption of Europe, exclusive of Russia, which 
Empire will probably continue to be supplied to the ex- 
tent of 6,000,000 pounds, annually, from China by over- 
land transportation, is about 50,000,000 pounds. The 
growth of this quantity will require 91,411 acres of land. 

The total quantity, therefore, necessary to be cultiva- 
ted, as Tea plantations, to supply the present consumption 
of Europe and the United States, exclusive of Russia, is 
111,520 acres, averaging 7965 acres for each of the four- 
teen Tea growing states. 

In 1843-4, Great Britain exported from China, 51,417, 
765 pounds ; but this exceeds the general yearly average 
of export How much of this aggregate importation was 
exported to the Colonies and the Continent of Europe, I 
have not sufficient data to determine. 

It is not possible, from the total want of official docu- 
ments, to give the amount of Tea grown in the Chinese 
Empire. We can only form a general idea of the pro- 
duction by the population, and the habits of the people. If 
we estimate the consumption at three pounds for each in- 
dividual, which, considering that Tea is the universal bev- 
erage of the Empire, I think cannot exceed the consump- 



55 

tion, we have the enormous product of 900,000,000 
pounds, whilst the whole exportation does not exceed 
70,000,000 pounds. 

Undoubtedly, the consumption in this country, will in- 
crease in proportion to the extention and facility of pro- 
duction ; as no beverage, with which we are acquainted 
will be found so cheap, wholesome, refreshing, and nutri- 
tious as Tea at all times, and especially in the high tem- 
perature of summer heat. * 



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